New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) Edible oil industry body SEA on Thursday demanded the Centre to exempt soyabean oil from declaration as genetically modified (GM) food on the label of the packaged product, saying the oil does not have traces of GM despite being crushed from GM soyabean.
The Union consumer affairs ministry has asked state governments to enforce the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules with respect to ‘GM labelling’ of soyabean oil as genetically modified food.
In a letter written to Union Food Secretary Sudhansu Pandey and Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said the constraints in implementing GM labelling for refined soyabean oil.
The SEA said, “Soybean oil itself is not a GM food; but its origin i.e. soybean (processed abroad) may be a GM food. Once soybean is crushed and its oil is refined, the oil does not have any traces of GM characteristics in refined soyabean oil.” Further, the quality parameters set by food safety regulator FSSAI for the domestically produced soyabean oil (from non-GM soybeans) and imported soyabean oil (which could be derived from GM seeds) are the same, it said.
“Imposing of compulsory labelling of GM on soybean oil produced from GM soyabeans will lead to an artificial premium for soybean oil produced from non-GM soybeans leading to inflation,” it said.
Though for consumers, there is no difference between the soyabean oils of the two origins, yet in such a situation the trade may overcharge the consumers by some premium on non-GM soyabean oil without any nutritional or health benefits, it added.
Stating that the country is already facing a high price of edible oils, SEA said imposing GM food labelling on soyabean oil will disrupt the supply chain and rise in prices and inflation.
“In view of the above, we urge the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to review and advise the legal metrology division to withdraw/ rescind the above order/ letter, in the larger interest,” the association said.
The SEA further said the industry and wholesale trade does not segregate the storage of soyabean oil obtained from domestic and imported sources. Most of the time crude soybean oil from domestic and imported sources (which could be derived from GM seeds) are stored together in the same oil tank and so also in one oil tank after refining.
The association further said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has not notified the ‘Test Methodology’ for determination of GM material in oils and vegetable fats not FSSAI given the test method for GM in its Manual of Methods of Analysis of Foods – Oils and Fats – Revised edition of June 22, 2021.
That apart, in-house laboratories of vegetable oil manufacturing and refining plants as well as NABL-accredited laboratories do not have the facility to test for GM content in soyabean oil.
The SEA also said it is not practical for the industry to keep segregated storage of domestic soybean oil produced from non-GM soyabean seeds and imported soybean oil produced from GM soyabean seeds, as it amounts to large investment for separate storage tanks, pipelines, etc. and still will not be a full-proof system.
The country meets over 60 per cent of its domestic edible oil demands through imports. PTI LUX HRS hrs
